The House of Blue

I really dont think these kids want to play for UK as much as they want to play for Cal and get to the NBA. I am certainly upset over the game and emotion is a part of it right now. But when you have the constant turnover in the roster, there is not much time for loyalty to be built or rivalry to be understood. Truth be told, I am just as pissed about Cal's comments as I am this game. I think it should be UK first and players second...IMO

Old guys like us can remember when the IU game was as big or bigger than any on the schedule. With all the problems that they have had up there and the lack of success they have had in holding up their end of the rivalry, it's hard to get kids to understand that it is a big game. To these kids our rivals are UNC and U of L. IU has not been much of a player on the national stage in their lifetime.

IU kids on the other hand were not necessarily amped up to beat Kentucky,, they were amped up to beat the NUMBER 1 TEAM in the country on their floor. That team happened to be UK. This for them was the game that would show how much progress they had made in coming back from the dead.

If you want a line up of Kentucky kids, that grew up living and breathing the program, great .... we can have a
Top 75 team.

If history, tradition, FANS, facilities, passion and school were primarily responsible for where recruits chose to play their college basketball - UK, UCLA, UNC, IU would never have "lulls or droughts". However, recruits choose coaches to play for, and the top tier coaches don't have "lulls" or "droughts", maybe a rebuilding year. Fans shouldn't get their feelings hurt, things change.

Everyone of Cal's teams here at Kentucky have played their tails off, represented our University, embraced our fans and won games at an amazing clip ...... Maybe I'm delusional, but this whole bring in the best talent, watch them grow, develope, make deep tourney runs, get drafted, rep UK afterwards seems tremendous !

Excellent perspective Jeff. Let's remember (as if we needed to be reminded) we start 3 frosh and 2 sophomores. And things happen happen in tense games where you're trying to come back. With the wing spread of some of our players I wished we had someone guarding the IU "inbouder" on the last play. I ding Cal a little on that one + I would have liked to have seen Witjer in earlier in the first half. And having 2 fouls to give the players (be they the senior of the others) failed to execute. The main thing that tells me we either lose or put ourselves in a position to lose(in any game) is the one stat I always check first----assists. Anytime we are in single digits (regardless of what we shoot % wise) we have and come close to being on the losing end. The effort was there but not the crisp ball movement I have seen in other games. I wanted to beat the Hoosiers in the worst way. However, with what the IU fans have endured for last several years I am happy for them and the fact it wasn't UNC or UL who beat us @ the buzzer. Go Cats!

todays game is not like it was way back in the day...u have to bring in the elite players or its tough to compete...yea butlers has done well the last 2 years but you wont see something like that again for a LONG time...tubby and billy recruited the guys you want cal to recruit and i dont think you were too happy about it...and all cal is doing is selling his program to recruits of the future by saying its a players first program...at the end of the day cal knows big blue nation will be there no matter what he says thats not the same for recruits

The days of kids longing to simply wear a college's jersey are long gone. It may apply to a few, but not the elite prospects. Like any other kid that goes to college, they're most concerned with their future. That's the only reason college exists, to better prepare the individual for his future. I don't hold that against them at all. And I think most kids who come here fall in love with it. Look at how many of them return or even live here when they're older and out of basketball.

The OP did a good job of summarizing what I feared was going to happen in the Cal era, but I've been tremendously surprised and pleased by how much the opposite is true. He does get these superstars to buy-in, play hard, and be part of the team. I'm not sure if they're playing for the school or for the coach, and I'm not sure it matters, but in two years he's come up with two very very good teams, and I have every confidence this one will be the third.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...

This is why I don't really care about basketball. A completely different roster every year, kids who don't really care about the school and are in it for themselves, and fans who worship the ground these players walk on. Kinda crazy when you think about it, "Hey, Kentucky, thanks for giving me every possible thing a kid could want, including free school, food, and all the attention. In return, you'll get me for 4 months instead of 3-4 years. I'll come back to Lexington every now and then for the ego boost". But like Jeff and Chris said, this is not just an exception for Kentucky, it's college basketball everywhere, and I think it's a big reason the sport lags behind others.

No, but I don't think that one and done's are good for the sport. CBB would benefit if good players stayed for more than one year. Imagine if Julio Jones, AJ Green, Mark Ingram, Tim Tebow, Randall Cobb, etc... had only been at their schools for one year. I get that it's two different sports, but the principle remains.

Edit to clarify again that this not an anti-Calipari thought, but is my thoughts on CBB as a sport. No need to crucify me (just preparing for it...).

Why is it that every time we lose a game we have to hear this nonsense? Seriously, we lost to a well coached, tough team at home in an extremely hostile environment. We, as UK fans, do not have to drum up some "sky is falling" scenario every time that we lose a game.

Oh rats, Ghost! I wanted to be the one to bring out the "sky is falling" line!!! We will hear them after every loss for some reason. The system in place is not the best in the world, but Cal does a great job at using that system to win games. And I'd much rather lose one in December (if we have to lose) than to lose one at tournament time.

In summary, the sky is NOT falling. Cal is coaching some of the most elite players in the entire nation who just happen to be playing for the University of Kentucky. And I'm glad they are both here to hang the next banner soon.